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China's Role in Search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Brings Its Own Headaches

Chinese military crews have joined the search in the Southern Indian Ocean for the missing Flight 370. Jessica Trisko Darden of Western University in Canada tells the WSJ's Deborah Kan why some of China's neighbors may be suspicious of its motives.

PEARCE AIR BASE, PERTH—With 153 Chinese that were on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 now assumed lost, the role of China in what is set to shift to a salvage effort is bound to remain intense. However, its participation in the multinational mission isn't without its complications.

At an Australian air force base outside the western city of Perth, two Chinese air force IL-76 long-range transport planes and their crews are unusual...